Severe weather could hit on Mother’s Day

Mother Nature may be very busy on Mother’s Day. After a full week of stormy weather, forecasters say Iowans see a brief break from the clouds today, while the rains will return tomorrow.

Meteorologist Kurt Kotenberg, at the National Weather Service, says it appears likely much of the state may see severe weather on Sunday.

“It will probably start to get potentially bad early afternoon especially through the early evening,” Kotenberg says. “One of the things we’ll be working on today is to narrow it down to a more specific area. The southern part of the state has a little better chance than northern Iowa for severe weather, but we’re looking at a statewide threat, as of right now.” While many Iowans may be traveling this weekend to celebrate the holiday, they may need to keep an umbrella handy, while some Iowans may need to retreat to the basement.

“We could be looking at all modes of severe weather here in Iowa,” Kotenberg says. “We could see some hail, some damaging winds and maybe even a few tornadoes across the state. Stay tuned to the forecast the next couple of days as we try to pin it down a little more but it looks like it could be a pretty widespread severe weather threat for Sunday.” Parts of Nebraska had tornadoes and severe flooding this week, while that state’s weekend forecast calls for up to eight inches of snow in the higher elevations of the Panhandle.

“It looks like we’ll get to miss out on the cold weather here in Iowa,” Kotenberg says. “It’ll be cooler, certainly. We’ll probably see temperatures drop down to the 40s and high temperatures in the 60s, maybe even the 50s, but no snow in the forecast here in Iowa. It’ll be cooler, but snow-free.”

The skies may start to clear on Monday, as the forecast calls for a return to calmer, more seasonable weather.